Environmentalists gave Interior land-use ideas

by Matt Gouras - May. 15, 2010 12:00 AMAssociated Press

HELENA, Mont. - Recently released documents show the Obama administration was getting ideas from environmental groups about setting aside millions of acres in the West, drawing the ire of land users who said discussions were being developed behind their back.

In the documents - most of which are e-mail messages - the environmental groups suggest various ways to protect land, such as by creating national monuments, buying private land or through conservation easements.

Some of the other sites mentioned in the Interior Department documents include the Northwest Sonoran Desert in Arizona and the San Juan Islands in Washington state.

A subsequent internal Interior Department memo - which the agency said is simply the product of brainstorming - listed 2.5 million acres in Montana for a new bison range as one of 14 sites in nine Western states being considered as national monuments.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said any proposals or decisions would face public input.

Republicans who submitted an information request to obtain the documents blasted the information as proof that the administration was privately crafting large-scale land-use plans. Federal agencies have so far produced only a fraction of the requested documents, they said.

"We now find references to plans that Montanans were told weren't in the works," said U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont. "This doesn't pass the smell test."

The e-mails show detailed discussions that went into brainstorming for the "Treasured Landscapes Initiative."

In Montana, a dozen or so pages show a back-and-forth discussion setting up meetings and brainstorming ways to protect prairie grasslands stretching from the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge north to the Canadian border. Much of that land is leased for cattle grazing and used in other ways.

"Ranchers were not involved in these discussions despite always being respectful of federal agency processes," said Errol Rice, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association.

Motorized users said they also were surprised to find out they were left out of the brainstorming for land they use.

"We are concerned that with the Treasured Landscapes Initiative, it appears the only groups that have had input have been the environmental groups," said Russ Ehnes, with the Montana Trail Vehicle Riders Association.

One of the groups suggesting protection for the land in Montana said it was not enlisted by the Interior Department and was informally submitting ideas.

Martha Kauffman, with the World Wildlife Fund, said the group wanted to make sure the prairie area was not forgotten about if there were new federal protections.